Aranei

The Aranei are loyal disciples of Sugadinti Vitur. They are fanatically devoted to his cause, to the point of willingly sacrificing their lives and donating blood to vampyres. Two Aranei appear in Morytania prior to The Blood Moon Rises: the Mysterious Stranger in the Hallowed Sepulchre, and Sarei, who is the Mysterious Stranger at Ver Sinhaza.

During The Blood Moon Rises, many more Aranei are encountered, assisting the player in various ways.

The aranei have various, seemingly magical capabilities. They have the ability to relive the memories of others as well as share them with others by making physical contact. This extends to being able to relive the memories of the dead, if the brain is intact enough.

They are also capable of communicating with other aranei over great distances, even across worlds, working as a sort of telephone that allows others to communicate through them as well. When they use these abilities, their eyes turn red.

Aranei also have both offensive and defensive magical capabilities. They can generate and wield glowing blue daggers, and create barriers of energy. However, they are not skilled at combat.

On Vampyrium, prior to the vampyres leaving with Zaros for Gielinor, the aranei willingly enslaved themselves to House Shadum so that they would not have to make choices for themselves.^[1] Lowerniel Drakan speculated that the aranei had a symbiotic need to attach themselves to the vampyres for survival.^[2] House Shadum treated the aranei sadistically, breeding them as both food and subservients.^[3]

When the vampyres left Vampyrium, the aranei were left behind. Without a leader, they would have eventually died out if not for Sugadinti Vitur, who was also left for dead on Vampyrium by his daughter, Verzik Vitur.^[4] Sugadinti became the new leader of the aranei, saving their race. Grateful for his help, the aranei vowed to serve Sugadinti in whatever way they could.^[5] With the help of Efaritay Hallow who had escaped Drakan's imprisonment, some aranei were able to be sent to Gielinor to act as recruiters and spies to gather allies and collect materials for weapons to defeat Drakan.

After the events of The Blood Moon Rises, blood tithes on humans have been outlawed, and Sugadinti has the aranei donate their blood to feed the vampyres and begins studying the creation of artificial blood via haemalchemy as a permanent solution.^[6]

• The blood of the aranei is described by Lowerniel Drakan as holding a quality both salty and sweet.
• Aranei means 'of spiders' or 'spiders' in Latin.